I conducted this interview with saxophonist Marcus Elliot and pianist Michael Malis, while they were on a U.S. tour in Washington, DC with their duo, Balance. They are both native to Detroit and are some of the most interesting players from the next generation of creative musicians in the city. We talked about their creative
Ground rules I am not a jazz professor or jazz musician, nor do I hold myself out as an expert or a jazz illuminato. I have never taken a class in jazz or its history. And, honestly, I do my best to avoid the intellectual side of jazz – I am simply a fan and
Archaisms I is a document showcasing the maiden voyage duo performance of two veteran composer-performers, Tyshawn Sorey and Adam Rudolph. The duo engage with one another with the elan and subtle nuances of near age siblings throughout the 45-minute improvised set taken from a 2021 event at Zurcher Gallery. Neither performer is new to duo
One can scarcely think of another performer, composer or conceptualist that is as consistently diverse, expansive and experienced as pedal steel guitarist, Susan Alcorn. Her latest recording, as well as her fifth feature for Relative Pitch, is entitled Canto and evinces this brilliant quality of her work perhaps more than any of her albums to
Saxophonist and composer Devin Brahja Waldman has been working in New York for about a decade and has led bands, contributed to projects such as Heroes Are Gang Leaders, and had numerous collaborations including Radical Reversal, with poet Randall Horton. In July, I interviewed Waldman about the release of the record, Kadef. CB: How did
The world needs people like Dave Treut. A powerful presence as a multi-instrumentalist/composer, he creates resolutely eccentric music that shows a sincere appreciation of life and its many absurdities. Treut (often credited as D.Treut) is a larger-than-life character and a force of positivity, and this all comes shining through in his music. But to date,
New England has long been a breeding ground for avant-garde jazz and other creative music, but it seems like right now the region – especially Connecticut – is having its moment in the spotlight of skronk. The local collective behind the record label firstname lastname has been busily releasing music throughout 2022; Dancing is the
There has always been a dearth of quality writing on free jazz. Many mainstream jazz critics fundamentally have not understood the music and have distorted its reception, while in academia the music has often been shunned by conservative music programs. But in recent years, there have been a number of important books addressing some of
For years, I have been meaning to attend the Big Ears Festival which is held annually in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is one of the premier music festivals in the United States featuring cutting-edge, thought-provoking, and experimental music. This year was my first time at the festival and I was impressed by the range of music
I listened to “ghostly.ridiculous” the night before getting my first COVID vaccine shot. It was – somehow – the perfect situation to take in this album. The title is an apt summation of the unsettling reality of both this work and the absurd, spectral nature of the 2020s so far. ghostly.ridiculous is a (mostly) solo
